Contents.

CONTENTS .

. . DIR 5 157 New Zealand 1 S 9 rmisecration of the Anglo-American Lodge , East Indies 89 pjo , 191 158 Australia 189 The Palladian Chapter , Hereford 180 Jamaica 189 The Sacred Ark 180 Laying Corner Stone of New Masonic Hall The Highbury Lodge , No . 2192 181 at Mirfield 190 r F . S ? ONDENCB— Banquet of the Gold and Silver Wyre School 183 190

lubilee Boys' Drawers' Company Notes and Queries 183 Festival Meeting of the Pilgrim Lodge , Reviews 183 No . 238 190 RBPORTS or MASONIC MEETINGS— " Glances at our History IQO Craft Masonry 184 Entertainment to the Poor at Margate rgo Instruction 188 The Coming Festival of the Royal Masonic Mark Masonry 188 Institution for Girls 191 Red Cross of Rome and Constantine ... 18 9 Masonic and General Tidings 191 Royal and Select Masters 189 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 192

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WE are afraid the overwhelming necessities of the Royal FeItiva i orthe Masonic Benevolent Institution have had the effect of casting R . M . I . G . somewhat into the shade the equally imperative , though for the time less pressing , requirements of our Schools . We are not saying this by way of complaint . We have ourselves played a conspicuous part in

urg ing those necessities on the attention of the Craft , and we are vain enoug h to believe that we have done so to very good purpose . But both we and the brethren who more particularly support that Institution would deeply regret if any exceptional measure of support which it may have been found necessary to accord to it at its recent Festival should act in any way , or

to any extent , detrimentally to the interests of the two Schools , and the support they are anxiously looking forward to obtain at their anniversary Festivals in May and June next respectively . Indeed , we are fully persuaded that the brethren at large , however considerable may have been their efforts in February on behalf of the Benevolent Institution , will not be

a whit less energetic than usual in supporting the claims on their interest of the Girls' and Boys' Institutions ; and as the Festival of the former will take place on the nth May next , under the auspices of R . W . Bro . Sir OFFLEY WAKEMAN , Bart ., Provincial Grand Master of Shropshire , it is high time we placed before our readers its present circumstances and future

prospects . Our readers are already aware—for have we not recorded it in the pages of this journal P—that Shropshire , albeit a small and newly-created province , and fresh from the heavy outlay attendant on its organisation , is prepared to support its Prov . Grand Master most generously . It is known even at this early date that the total of its subscriptions will reach the

handsome sum of ^ Soo , and there are grounds for believing that still further contributions will be forthcoming between now and the day of the Festival . But in spite of this generous preparation on the part of the Chairman ' s province , we must fain admit that the outlook from the rest of English Masonry is by no means as promising as it is ordinarily , and therefore

considerabl y less promising than we should have liked to see it in the Jubilee year of the Q UEEN ' reign . We do not attach more importance than is necessary to the mere number of brethren who volunteer their services as Stewards . None knows better than we do that number is not invariably a criterion of strength or weakness , and that the cases in which a Board of Stewards ,

numericall y weak , has achieved great success , or a numerically strong one has done but little , are by no means rare . But even after allowing for fluctuations , both favourable and unfavourable , it must needs be disappointing to find that within six weeks of the day arranged for this Festival , the "umber of brethren who have tendered their services as Stewards is only

20 3- The average strength during the last few years has been from 2 7 o to 275 , and it is obvious , not only that there is a large amount ° f leeway to make up in order that the Board may attain to average dimensions , but likewise that the time is short in which to accomplish so much , and that consequently an additional amount of energy will have to

be employed in order to obtain the requisite average . As to the circumstances under which the Festival will take place , there is no question of their bein g of a more than usually urgent character . Any doubts that may Previousl y have existed on this head have been removed by the action of the Special Court of Governors which was held on the 21 st ult ., when the

e purchase was both expedient and desirable ; while , as regards the ad' ° n to the School establishment , we all know it has been made in modest mmemoration of her MAJESTY ' Jubilee . But in any circumstances Institution stands committed by the act of its rulers to the aforesaid chase of houses for £ 2500 , and the addition to its annual liabilities of . 1 -- I'viuca IU 1 XJ & W , onu nil . auuibiiM , IU ivj a ., iiuti . . iak / u . kii ~^ \ JL

, . . w . w ^ u . u-. w .., ..- . _; 1 J I •¦ - -t •¦ , numbers resolved ( 1 ) on purchasing Mr . EVILL ' houses and ground for * 5 oo , and ( 2 ) on admitting the whole of the candidates on the list without allot and so increasing the number of children in the School by five , or , n other words , on enlarging the annual expenditure by some ^ 200 . As gards the former resolution , we have already explained why , in our opinion ,

cost of five children , or , in round figures , to about . £ 200 ; and the only source Which it can look to secure the needful moneys to meet these ad-° nal obli gations is the subscriptions of the brethren , to be obtained m n ^ ' ' £ not entirely , by the exertions of its Festival Stewards next "• For these reasons we trust that between now and then the Board

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of Stewards will be materially strengthened , so that even if the celebration of the Q UEEN ' Jubilee is not considered justification enough for enlarging the Festival receipts of this Institution , there may be no serious diminution in the total . It would be little short of an act of disloyalty to Queen

VICTORIA , who is the mother of our Grand Master and the Chief Patroness of our Girls' School , if the receipts of this year's Festival compared unfavourably with those of recent years , especially when the Institution has just incurred so large an amount of additional responsibility .

* * * WE see no objection to the course pursued by the Special Court B Motton . ' S ° ^ Governors of the Girls' School on the 21 st ult ., with reference to Bro . GREY ' motion for the abrogation of Law 56 , which lays it down that " No girl shall be eligible for election or for admission , by

purchase or otherwise , who has a sister in the Institution , unless the number of vacancies is in excess of the number of candidates . " Bro . GREY ' proposal has been referred to a Committee composed of the House Committees of the Boys ' and Girls' Schools , and , whatever the outcome of the inquiry may be , we believe the general opinion of the Craft , sooner or later , will be in favour of

the removal of all restrictions , save those provided by the Laws as to the age of candidates , & c , on the judgment of the body to which petitions are referred , and which determines their acceptability or otherwise . This bod y is the General Committee , which is fully competent to settle all such questions of this character as come before it . We know it is most careful in the

inquiries it institutes into the circumstances of each petitioner . We are aware that it is governed by a strict impartiality in arriving at its decisions , and there can be no doubt it fulfils this portion of its duties successfully , or the instances in which its judgments are questioned would not be so few and far between . As regards this particular

class of case , in which a candidate presents herself who has already a sister in the Institution , they do not occur frequently , and if , when they do occur , the General Committee decides , after duly weighing the circumstances , that the fact of a child having had or having a sister in the School is no bar to the acceptance of the child herself as a candidate for

election , it seems to us an unnecessary interference with the duties of the Committee , and that it casts a slur on their judgment , for any other body to step in and override their decision . We know of no reason why this , as every other , class of petition , should not be dealt with entirely on its own merits . We may safely trust the General Committee , in determining the

value of these merits , not to overlook the fact of a sister being or having been already in the School . And lastly , we must not forget that to impose this restriction may cause hardship to a very deserving petitioner . We have

said already that this class of petition rarely presents itself , and we venture to add that it still more rarely happens that such a petition is not amply justified by the circumstances of the distressed family in whose behalf it is presented .

We understand that a new volume by the veteran Masonic Tweddeirs ' author , Bro . GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL , entitled "A New Work . Hundred Masonic Sonnets , " and dedicated to Bro . EMRA

HOLMES , is about to be published , and from the speci mens we have seen , we anticipate that it will materially enhance the author ' s fame as one of the most tuneful of Masonic songsters . We trust also , that it will bring him profit as- well as fame . We are informed that Bro . TVVBDDELL has been for some time past in very bad health , needing a helpful hand , and

it will be a graceful as well as a kindly act if brethren will assist in securing the success of the little volume by enrolling themselves as subscribers for one or more copies . What we have seen of Bro . TVVEDDELL ' S poetry is gracefully written , and breathes the true spirit of Masonry , and we hope our present suggestion will be acted upon to his benefit ,

IT is amazing that brethren should write absurdl y about matters U J ?" r m rIy they do not understand . In one of the February issues of the Masonic News of Montreal appears a letter signed "E . T . D . C , " in which the writer , in his anxiety to learn something as to the character of

our newly-consecrated Anglo-American Lodge , No . 2191 , falls foul of the Prince of W ALES for having granted a warrant for its constitution . We are , perhaps , somewhat old-fashioned , but our idea is that , when a man proposes to become a critic , he should firstof all learn what he can about the matter to be criticised , and then he may lay about him as hard as he pleases .

" E . T . D . C . " is of a different opinion . He does not understand the purpose for which the Anglo-American Lodge has been formed , and by way of showing that his discourtesy is on a level with his ignorance , he propounds a number of questions as unmannerly towards our Grand Master as they are uncalled for . We hope " E . T . D . C , " the next time he has a mind to play the part of critic , will play it more creditably .